Eagles' Peters taking salary cut is all wrong

Jason Peters could have just as well tried pole-vaulting over a barbed-wire fence or wrestling a startled grizzly bear.

Because in the bold, flawed, tragic language of the new collective bargaining agreement, hastily reviewed by locked-out athletes and then signed last summer at the recommendation of the temporarily decertified NFL Players Association, there is no difference between offseason injuries caused by foolish recklessness and pure acts of God.

Therefore, the Eagles' left tackle was at risk for serious loss of income the moment he departed the NovaCare Complex for his Texas home last January.

You see, the owners slipped in this clause releasing them of any obligation to pay any player who might happen to injure himself while away from their team's premises in the offseason for as long as the player is out.

Circumstances be damned.

And the players, in a rush to avoid potentially huge losses of income as the pressure mounted to end a long labor stoppage that threatened the 2011 season, signed it.

The language violates the spirit of such a rule, which is to protect management from having to finance moronic mistakes, such as Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the thigh with an unregistered firearm at a Manhattan nightclub (as if he would have won a gunfight if real trouble had broken out).

Now, it doesn't matter whether players are acting like Looney Tunes characters or making legitimate, conscientious efforts to become the best teammates they can be, as Peters was said to be doing in a home-based workout when he tore his right Achilles tendon in March.

Teams have the option to treat them all the same — yet another victory for the owners, who started last year's ugly lockout in the first place in what became a magnificently successful attempt to gain a greater portion of the league's revenue pie than they had before.

The fact that Peters was injured away from the team's NovaCare Complex entitles the Eagles to cut off all payments to him for as long as he remains on the reserve/non-football related injury list, which is where he was bound long before tearing the same tendon again in an accident caused by the collapse of a machine he was using to get around.

The moment Peters' initial injury was diagnosed, he was looking at the possibility of never receiving a check from the Eagles again. This, after coming off a season in which he proved on nearly every snap that he was at the top of his game.

Of course, the Eagles were proud to point out last week that this won't be the case. They plan to keep paying their star tackle.

Except, umm, well, you see, the thing is this: To maintain their case-study status as ultimate managers of the salary cap (another collectively bargained defeat for the players), they'll just have to, uh, ahem, lop off approximately $3.25 million from Peters' 2012 salary to cover what they must pay Demetress Bell, the player signed to step in for him this season.

Peters, who turned 30 in January, was named to his fifth straight Pro Bowl in 2011 and was just as devastating 20-plus yards down the field as he was at the line of scrimmage. Under the jump sets installed by new offensive line coach Howard Mudd, he flourished as never before.

And now?

Knowing they could have been looking at total income loss, Peters and his agent not only accepted the cut, but were happy to take it.

"He's had a real bad break," understated Peters' agent, Eugene Parker. "But there's not a lot we can do about it. This was collectively bargained.

"We worked together with the team after this happened."

That was as far as Parker, who is bound by the rules of certification as an NFLPA agent, could take his thoughts. To keep their certification, which is the only way to be able to represent NFL players, criticism is prohibited.

The NFLPA did not respond to an interview request with anyone who could have possibly shed more light on the situation.

In the meantime, a team source explained that this decision was necessary not just to be able to pay Bell, but to more easily be able to offer contract extensions to players they'd like to lock up before this coming season is out.

Fair enough.

But also know this: general manager Howie Roseman said they were pursuing Bell even before Peters' injury, and the Eagles are still projected to be more than $15 million under the cap after the relatively massive guarantees they just threw at running back LeSean McCoy last week and getting all their draft picks signed.

To address Peters' situation, they released the following statement from Roseman:

"We've had good, open communications with Jason since his injury. He knows how much he means to the Eagles as a player and as a teammate. He knows we think he's one of the best in the league. We're working with him on the medical and rehab side, making all our resources available, to get him past this and back on the field at an elite level."